IRELANDíS JEWS: A FADING TRIBE ON THE EMERALD ISLEStory and photos by Paul Margolis

In Ireland, more than three centuries of Jewish life is drawing to
a close. Emigration, an aging population that hasn't replaced itself,
intermarriage and assimilation have all taken their toll, reducing the
community from nearly 6,000 in the 1940s to just over 1,000 today.
Within a generation or two, only a handful of Jews are likely to remain
in Ireland.

The present
Jewish community of Ireland dates from the 1880s, when immigrants from
Lithuania fleeing pogroms and Russian oppression landed in Dublin and Cork.
Before that, there had sporadically been small Jewish communities from
the mid-17th century on. Jews have never been persecuted in Ireland,
probably because they have always been such a tiny minority in an overwhelmingly
Catholic country. Most Irish Jews are comfortably middle-class; many
are professionals or in business. Many are third- or fourth-generation
Irish-born. Dublin's original Jewish cemetery has graves dating back
to the early 18th century, and a second cemetery, at Dolphinís barn,
was opened in 1898, and a third, Woodlawn, in the early 1950s.
The dead in Ireland far outnumber living Jews.

Dublin, Ireland. Greenville Hall,
formerly a synagogue and now housing a high technology corporation

It's almost impossible not to be taken by the physical beauty of Ireland
and the friendliness of the people. The cities are small, old and
charming, with streets that are safe at all hours. There's little
evidence of "progress" in the form of high-rises or modern architecture.
Dublin, where the majority of Ireland's Jews live, is still very much an
18th and 19th century city. The pace of life is unhurried and people
will strike up conversations with you on the street and in stores.
Cork, a seaport city some 150 miles southwest of Dublin, has a synagogue
and a handful of Jews who actively participate in its upkeep. The
Jewish population is estimated at 20 to 30 in this city of 135,000.

The Irish Jewish
Museum in Dublin was founded in 1985 and opened by Dublin born Chaim Herzog,
then president of Israel. It is housed in the former Walworth Road
Synagogue at 3 and 4 Walworth Rd., which was opened in 1916. The
Museum houses a large collection relating to the history of Jews in Ireland,
and maintains the synagogue sanctuary intact. Raphael Siev, the Museumís
founder and curator, spoke of "three hemorrhages" that reduced the
Jewish population of Ireland from its peak of nearly 6,000 in the 1940s
to 1,200 today. "Starting in the late 1940s, young Jews became
assimilated, and there was a great deal of intermarriage. In those
days, the Church insisted that the non-Catholic had to convert. That,"
said Siev, who is also a member of the Irish diplomatic corps, "was the
first major hemorrhage."

The founding of the State of Israel in 1948 prompted an exodus from
Ireland. "Irish Jews have always been very Zionistic," explained
Siev. "In fact, today there are more Irish-born Jews living in Israel
than in Ireland." The third hemorrhage, ongoing from the 1960s, is
emigration for better economic and social opportunities. "The young
leave because there's no Jewish life for them here, and because the good
jobs are overseas," said Siev. Parents practically force their children
out of Ireland, to England, Israel or the U.S., so they can meet and marry
other Jews.

Cork, Ireland. Exterior of Synagogue,
built in the early 1900s.

Siev's statistics on the Jewish population outside of Dublin aren't
very heartening: one Jew each in Limerick and Waterford, a single family
in Galway, two-dozen in Cork, and two hundred in British-controlled Northern
Ireland.

When I visited Ireland during the summer of 1996, Dublin had been without
a rabbi for over two years. That August, Rabbi Gavin Broder came
from England to fill the Chief Rabbi's post.

The Judaism of Ireland is nominally Orthodox, but is a more liberally
interpreted version than in the U.S. Dublin's two remaining Orthodox
synagogues are merging, and there is a Progressive temple that is comparable
to Reform. There are other signs of the dwindling of the Jewish community.
The formerly all-Jewish Edmondston Golf Club on the outskirts of Dublin
has had to accept Gentile members to stay afloat.

Dublinís enormous main synagogue, the Dublin Hebrew congregation, located
at 37 Adelaide Road, remains open, but the
future for the building, erected in 1982 and designed to hold up to 1,000
worshippers, remains uncertain. The dark richly furnished interior
is notable for its central bimah, and the large brass candle sticks which
surmount it. Another large synagogue, Greenville Hall, with its imposing
exterior Corinthian-columns, dates from the 1920s and was closed in the
mid-1980s. It was almost sold for use as a mosque, but is now the
headquarters of a high technology company. Stars of David are still
visible on its windows. Dublin's kosher bakery, The Bretzel, has
been owned by non-Jews for two generations, and a mashgiach comes in daily
to oversee kashruth. Until the 1950s, there were enough Jews in Dublin
to support eight kosher butcher shops and a dozen synagogues.

Dublin, Ireland. The Bretzel is a kosher bakery,
but it has ben owned non-Jews for two generations.

Despite their small numbers, the Jews have had a significant influence
on Ireland. There are currently three Jewish members of the Irish
Parliament, and both Dublin and Cork have had Jewish mayors.
Chaim Herzog, the former President of Israel, grew up in Dublin, and Herzog
House is one of the city's Jewish monuments. Of course, the most
famous Irish Jew of all is fictional: Leopold Bloom, the protagonist
of James Joyce's novel Ulysses. A plaque marks "his" house at 52
Clanbrassil Street in Dublin.

Ireland is
a country with a future, but not for the Jews. It is one of the unspoiled
countries of Europe, and the economy has improved dramatically with Ireland's
entry into the European Union. Possibly, Jews from other European
countries will be attracted to Ireland because of the favorable economic
climate, or expatriate Irish Jews will return home for the same reason.
However, it seems unlikely that there will ever be enough Jews in Ireland
again to prevent the virtual disappearance of the community within a few
decades.

Cork, Ireland. Eric Sayers, in his
late 30s, is one of the few active members of the Cork

synagogue. He said that on the High
Holy Days, Jews have to be 'imported' from Dublin.

Photojournalist Paul Margolis frequently writes on Jewish subjects.
His report from Cuba appeared in the last issue Jewish Heritage Report.